Steven Johnson

Steven Johnson (1968–) writes about where ideas come from. Not genius, not solitary inspiration — but networks, platforms, and the adjacent possible.

His book Where Good Ideas Come From (2010) argues that innovation happens in environments with specific properties: liquid networks where ideas can collide, slow hunches that mature over time, serendipitous connections, error-tolerant experimentation. The coffee house, the lab, the city — these are idea habitats.

Johnson borrowed Stuart Kauffman’s adjacent possible to explain why certain ideas appear when they do. You can’t jump ahead; you can only explore what’s one step away. But each step unlocks new possibilities.

His work connects emergence, scenius, and innovation through accessible narrative — the kind of explanation that makes you see differently.

Related: [[adjacent-possible]], [[scenius]], [[emergence]], [[innovation]]